3 tenders in 6 months, yet bridge repair stays locked in red tape

Over the past six months, three tenders were called by three different divisions, including Nabanna Circle, for the repair.

Even as experts claim that shoddy maintenance may have caused the fatal collapse of the 54-year-old Majerhat bridge which killed three people, an ET investigation reveals that at least three tenders for taking up repair work were floated by the Public Works Department (PWD) in the past six months.

Latest tenders were floated on July 17 and July 27, around a month before the bridge collapse. Although there is no official explanation why these tenders were not implemented, two state departments—PWD and Finance— are still sparring over whose responsibility it was to implement the tender.

It seems that the government is yet to fix the responsibility and a high-power committee, led by chief secretary Malay De, has been formed to investigate the matter.

While PWD officials claimed that the tenders got stuck with the finance department that reportedly raised objections and shot down the proposals terming them as “not of immediate priority”, the finance department officials said a report based on the “facts” has been submitted to the chief minister and she would “respond” to this.

“We know that several things are being fed to people about the finance department. We have already given a report to the chief minister based on facts and figures,” said a senior official of state’s finance department.

Over the past six months, three tenders were called by three different divisions, including Nabanna Circle, for the repair.

The first of the e-tenders was issued on March 3 by the office of the Superintending Engineer, Nabanna Circle, for “special repair of Majherhat Bridge and approach road on Diamond Harbour road” at an estimated cost of Rs 2,81,26,742.

According to the notice inviting electronic tender by the executive engineer II, Alipore Division, PWD, dated July 27, an amount of Rs 5,17,928, was estimated for surface repairing of the service road of Majherhat Bridge (western side) under Alipore division, PWD, during 2018-19.

A third notice inviting tenders by the office of the assistant engineer, Behala sub-division, on July 17, titled “Repairing of Majherhat Bridge over Diamond Harbour Road during the year 2017-2018 including approaches”, states that the tender was called for “picking up and removing old bituminous layer or sand sealing coat from old black topped surface and cleaning the exposed surface by scraping and stacking the material as directed”.

However, ministers and bureaucrats are tight-lipped over the reasons behind the non-implementation of these tenders. Following an emergency meeting at Nabanna, chief minister Mamata Banerjee said, “Nobody will be spared and all angles would be investigated.”

Amid controversies over “non-implementation” of old tenders, a reality check into the recent tenders floated by PWD, revealed that the department, called tenders for “emergent work at circuit house” in Purulia district for the upcoming visit of TMC MP, Abhishek Banerjee, the chief minister’s nephew.

According to the notice, dated September 4, the day the bridge collapsed, the executive engineer, Purulia division, invited quotations for “emergent work at circuit house, for the visit of Abhishek Banerjee, MP (LS) and ‘Z’ plus protectee to be held on and from 07.09.2018 to 08.09.2018’. On the same day, the executive engineer of Purulia electrical division of PWD also issued a notice inviting quotation for “temporary electrification work for the visit of Abhishek Banerjee in Purulia circuit house”.